Boiler details installed

I left most of the details off the boiler until after it was painted. This enabled me to paint the boiler blue to represent planished iron, rather than black. It’s possible that by 1905, 622 was painted black, but I confess I like the blue look. Installing the details was a delicate operation because most […]

Boiler bands

Baldwin made 622’s boiler bands out of “iron,” according the erecting card. This could mean they were “planished iron,” like the rest of the boiler. I’ve interpreted it as ordinary iron, which would have been painted. As with #10, 622 sports boiler bands made from adhesive tape, painted with the same Steam Power Black as […]

622’s boiler jacket

According to the erecting card, #21’s boiler jacket was “Planished Iron” when she emerged from Baldwin’s shops. What colour that was is almost anyone’s guess, I think. I doubt it was true Russian iron, but as that was also planished, I figure the boiler was probably a similar colour – which is to say some […]

Cricut makes quick work of tapered course

The original tapered boiler course took about a week of fitting, filing and filling before it was acceptable. Now, the process to draw the shape may have been painful, but cutting it out with the Cricut took all of five minutes. Because the two boiler sections are actually quite accurately formed, it took very little […]

Re-drafting the taper course ends in a draw

I first noticed the crack in 622’s taper course when I was putting together the slides for my recent clinic on modern tools. Just before going to prime all the parts, I decided there was no point in seeing if it was serious enough to fix. I made the original taper course from .010″ styrene, […]

622 Final engine details and a discovery

Despite the glorious summer, I’m still getting a few minutes of modelling time in most days. A few minutes adds up and soon there have been hours, and now I’ve finished the engine part of 622. There is still a short list of details to add to the tender, but an hour’s work should see […]

Sand dome for 622

It turns out that one of the benefits of having your own 3D printer is that you can afford to experiment a little bit. If a part doesn’t work out the way you thought it would, you can modify the drawing, export it, and try again. There is no 10-day wait, no shipping charges and […]

A bell for 622

As a guy who at one time would have talked to a girl rather than solder two wires together, I’m pretty proud of these seven shards of brass and nickel silver that I soldered together to make a bell. Even if it isn’t quite perfectly symmetrical.

Steam dome details for 622

I continue to peck away at the details for 622. Once I figured out how to drill tiny holes again, my lathe made quick work of the whistle and safety valves. The latter sit on a removable brass plate, which fits into a hole in the top of the steam dome casing. This removable subassembly […]

Mud drum for 622

Somehow my fixation on mud drums feels a little deviant. Like “foot fetish” or “nasophilia,” “mud drum” is the sort of thing you Google for only after double-checking that your Safe Search filter is on. That the one group I wrote to when researching mud drums during the design phase never wrote back only cements […]